‘Rally all you want, but not at Dataran’
The KL mayor urges the public to stay away from Dataran Merdeka tomorrow and says ‘security’ issues will be handled by the police.
(Free Malaysia Today) – There is no way that City Hall would allow anyone to set foot on Dataran Merdeka tomorrow, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail said today.
However, the mayor said that the government was not against rallying elsewhere as Malaysia is a democratic country.
“You want to rally, go ahead. Just don’t disturb others lah! If they sit by the road, that’s okay if it doesn’t break the law, right?
“If they really behave on that day, what’s wrong? If you want to rally, use the side walk, sit at the side,” he said.
“But don’t sit in the middle of the road, that’s bad culture… What if cars rammed into you?” he asked.
He said City Hall would not want to take any action on protesters if they rallied peacefully outside Dataran Merdeka and would urge police to do the same.
“If they want to sit, I will talk with the police, biarlah (let them be). We just don’t want them to enter Dataran. I’m not discouraging people to go for a peaceful rally,” he said.
However, Ahmad Fuad said he was concerned about the possibility of traffic congestion, safety of the protesters and the possibility of a “security threat”.
“If there are those parties who are against it, a clash could happen and that’s a security issue. We don’t know what will happen,” he said.
‘It’s police responsibility’
Ahmad Fuad added that the security aspects of the rally tomorrow is the police’s responsibility and no longer City Hall’s.
“I read threatening comments online saying ‘let’s see what will happen to these small-time DBKL officers on 28th’. We’re not trained to get into fights, but just to uphold the law.
“Security issue is no longer DBKL’s responsibility, and I think the police are ready,” he said, though he added it would be a “joint operation”.
“But if there’s nothing much, [well] they’ll be sitting there, we’ll just look at each other and say ‘how are you today?’ It will all be fine,” Ahmad Fuad said in jest.
He said roads leading into Dataran Merdeka would most likely be closed off, including Jalan Raja, Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Hishamuddin, and possibly Lebuh Pasar.
He said that he would be meeting with the police today and if there are road closures, it will be announced through the media.
“We don’t want to close down the whole city, just those roads leading into Dataran,” he said.
